“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
On this first day in the month of November, a time when we turn back our clocks to “standard time,” when we turn out to vote in the mid-term elections and when we turn in our rakes for snow shovels – we Rotarians of Club 25 turned our attention to our youth as the focus of our meeting. President Steve Yorde rang the Rotary Bell calling us to order followed by Rotarians singing America the Beautiful accompanied by Past President John Baumgarten. Club 25 Treasurer Greg Hansen opened the Invocation with thoughts of what Rotarians do to lead programs while serving as role models to benefit our youth. Rotarians are grateful to be able to have the opportunities to do the good works we do: hosting teens from The Hills, sending teens to Camp RYLA, our Junior Rotarian program and more. “It’s like scattering seed – we sometimes do not know where the seeds will fall or how they will grow, but over time, a garden develops.”
Traci Marciniak offered the Fellowship Report. We enjoyed the company of visiting Rotarians from far and wide. From the “Sunshine Sate” Florida we welcomed back as our guest and today’s program speaker, former Club 25 member John Hosler, the incoming club president of Stuart Rotary; former District 5580 Governor Marty Byrnes of North Shore Rotary, guest of John Hosler; and Natalka Pron, our Rotary International Exchange Student from Poland. Other guests included Kadie Knudson, a UMD Pre-Med student and member of Twin Ports Rotaract, also a guest of John Hosler; former Club 25 member (and photographer for the day) Kelsey Roseth, guest of President Steve Yorde; and Oliver and Luke Nolle, Scouts and sons of David Nolle. Although Fellowship fines were sparse this week, a number of Rotarians kicked The Golden Can either due to their own “good deeds” or due to their employer’s … Tom Wheeler wrote another piece in the DNT promoting Duluth as a great community to show off to out-of-town friends – a city to be proud of. Essentia Health had a few mentions in the media – gathering opinions about its Vision Northland Project, a potential $850 million development in Duluth, as well as becoming recognized as one of only five Level One Trauma Centers in Minnesota!
Podium announcements included a wonderful video tour of Poland accompanied by International Rotary Exchange Student Natalka’s narrative about her family and her passion for dance. We learned that Natalka is the familiar derivative of the more formal Natalia – thanks for including us among your family and friends, Natalka!
Jena Evans and Natalka Pron
New Generations Chair Marc Seigar invited our outgoing October Junior Rotarians to the front where they introduced their classmates and incoming November Junior Rotarians, pictured below.
November Jr. Rotarians (left to right): Zaryn Prussia, Max Peterson, Andrew Tyson, Sarah Urban, Peyton Fath, and Angelique Johnson
Past Presidents John Baumgarten and Phil Strom took to the podium to announce two annual events that Rotarians will wish to participate in: beginning now and for the next several weeks, our annual Thanksgiving Food Drive that provides a 3 to 1 match for food purchases going out to needy families for Christmas; and the annual Paul Harris Fellowship Dinner to be held this Wednesday, November 7, at the Spirit Mountain Grand Avenue Chalet.
Chair of the Day and Past President Dave Allison introduced our program speaker, former Club 25 member John Hosler. John considers Duluth his true home, even though Florida is where he now resides. John summarized his life in three stages: A time for learning; a time for earning; and a time for returning. John’s youth was filled with learning from great role models and opportunities to attend great schools. John’s period of earning included his great love of our community that started decades ago when he led Lake Superior Paper as “employee #2.” For many years, John’s efforts helped to revitalize Duluth’s West-End with employment and civic pride. Following a brief retirement, John work for a while at Amzoil. His true retirement brought him to his present period of returning. John shared his passion for RYLA – Rotary Youth Leadership Award – a Rotary program with a rich tradition dating back to its beginnings in 1961 in Brisbane, Australia. In 1991, Rotary District 5580 began its own Camp RYLA on the campus of the University of Minnesota Crookston. Every July approximately 135 youth from Minnesota, North Dakota and Canada gather to test themselves and each other for a week of lessons on leadership, team building, respect, empathy, etiquette, and more. Led by 36 trained volunteer facilitators, these youth are mixed into what are identified as RYLA families – each made up of 7 to 9 boys and girls who may be complete strangers at the beginning but fast friends at the end. RYLA families work together as teams applying “life lessons” to solve “real life” problems. RYLA Campers are among the best and brightest high school juniors with many holding GPAs of 4.0 as a common denominator. The days are long, starting at 6:45am and ending with lights-out at 10:30pm. RYLA campers learn all about Rotary with lessons on the Four-Way Test while practicing “Service Above Self” in their involvement with a community Rotary Rose distribution in the City of Crookston. Of course there is fun – a talent show usually brings out unknown talents, and dining together as RYLA families initiate life-long friendships. John closed by inviting Rotarians to consider joining him in Crookston this July – even for a day – to see what Rotary and Camp RYLA truly does for our next generation of leaders.
Chair of the Day Dave Allison with Speaker John Hosler
Please join us this week as we honor and proudly salute our Club's Rotarians who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Lincoln Park Boys and Girls Club's Halloween Haunted Reception Room festivities.